Legend: Choice
by vampyre.vampyre
Summary: A few moments, and a more perceptive Rin Tohsaka, and Fate's plan is laid bare.


She stared up at the entity in front of her; around her time was frozen, nothing moving, Emiya's back to her as they sat upon the stump overlooking the city. The wind had stopped, the leaves did not move, but she approached, and with each step she changed slightly. She wasn't beautiful so much as ethereal, as she began to pace around Rin.

" _You must not interfere_."

Rin struggled for a moment, then found that she could move, so she stood and turned to the spirit, finding it to be a tall blonde man. "He has the right to know, to make his own choice."

It shook it's head, long dark locks of hair falling away from it's head and it lost two feet in height and became an adolescent girl. " _His choice is already made, and we must have him. Without him, all things end._ " It continued to circle her, and Rin, growing tired of watching, let her circle, ignoring the odd feeling of watching the spirit change constantly into someone else.

"He can't be that important. He's barely a magus."

" _But you've seen what he will become._ "

Rin didn't want to accept it. She hadn't wanted to accept what she'd seen when he pulled the married blades from thin air, solid and strong like her Archer. Copying, that's all he'd done; stolen the technique of another.

Until he'd shown her the pendant. The pendant her father had given her; that Archer had returned to her, but was still in Emiya's hand even now, sitting open on the stump, held out to show her.

"No..." Archer had lied to her. He'd forgotten nothing, but he'd known he couldn't tell her the truth about who he was. "Who? Who are you?"

The face of the spirit turned to her, blue eyes morphing to green as the nose reshaped itself thinner and the shoulders broadened. It was Saber's face. " _You know who we are._ "

Alaya. But that meant...

" _Yes, he is. And we need him, or all things end. We need what he will become, to keep the balance._ "

Anger surged through her at the injustice of it. "He wouldn't want that. He couldn't want that." The face didn't turn from her as Archer's face, and now she could see the resemblance, once she ignored the hair and the eyes, and of course the muscular chest maturity had given him.

" _You know that he already did. He hasn't told you why because he hasn't told you who he is, but now you know. It matters not. You must not interfere in what we have set. We will have him._ "

And then the spirit was gone.

"Tohsaka? Is everything okay? When did you stand up?"

"Come on, idiot. We should leave before we're found. We need to make a plan."

* * *

Her tears fell as she woke, seeing him sitting on the couch as the morning sun began to creep up in from the dawn. "Why did you lie to me?"

He turned to face her, and now she could see it for certain. How had she ever been so foolish, especially after partnering up with Shirou. "Everything follows the script of Fate, Rin. What's happening has already happened and will happen to him. You can't break the chain."

"Why are you really here then? You sound like you've accepted this. I never would have thought so, but you have. And you didn't need to take me hostage; he would have come and you know it."

"Yes, he would, but I needed to keep you out of the way. And we needed to talk. You can't interfere; what happens is too important."

"You can tell that bitch you've enslaved yourself to that she can say it to my face."

Time froze again. She couldn't turn, but she knew that the collective spirit of humanity's will to survive was present. " _You will not interfere, Rin Tohsaka. This must happen._ "

"You've said that before, but I don't understand why. Archer is powerful, but not that powerful."

" _Emiya does as he is willed to do, because he knows it is necessary. He has seen the result if he refuses. And he uses only the power necessary to accomplish the tasks given to him._ "

"So, he's not really here to kill himself?"

The spirit laughs, a disturbing sound as it morphs between three different voices before ending. " _Foolish child. Emiya teaches Shirou Emiya how to be Emiya and molds him into what is needed. Nothing more._ "

The married blades. "Archer is teaching Shirou how to become Archer... by showing him through combat? So this fight..."

" _Yes. This fight will make Shirou Emiya into Emiya enough to overcome the obstacle threatening our survival, and prepare him for the path to preserve the balance._ "

"I ... I can't. I love him."

" _Yes, we know. You always love him, but you have seen through Emiya's ruse too soon, and will interfere. Disastrous, so we will make you an offer._ "

Rin's tears stopped as she listened, hope blossoming where only despair stood before.

" _You cannot stop this. We need him to become the Heroic Spirit Emiya, our counter-guardian, or everything ends. The balance is not preserved, and Gaia will consume us, and we will consume it, and there will be nothing remaining. So, we give you this promise. When it comes time for Shirou Emiya to renew his vow, we will give you the same choice. The choice to join him._ "

Rin snarled. "And become a slave?"

" _Become a savior. Despite Emiya's attitude, not all of his time is spent going from war to war, constantly killing. There is a great deal of time in which you could be together, and you would be a great Heroic Spirit yourself. A good choice, but your choice still. We would like you, but you are not necessary. More will live, less will be destroyed, but Emiya is enough._ "

"I... I'm not sure. I'm not ready."

" _Oh child, you do not need to decide now. We will come when it is time._ "

* * *

She left her workshop to pick up their children. It was tiring, keeping up with her research and earning enough that, matched with Shirou's payments from the Clocktower and the Church, they could provide for their children and their life together. A short walk through the brisk London winter air later, and Sakura and little Kiritsugu and Taiga were bundled up in a cab on their way back to their home on the outskirts of the metropolis.

Shirou was due to arrive soon, perhaps even that evening, and she wanted to prepare his favorite meal, so she'd stopped by a specialty market to pick up the things she'd ordered ahead, and had the driver put them in the boot. As the arrived, she unlocked the door, hustling her children into their home, and greeted the housekeeper, dismissing the woman for the day. As her children hung up their coats, or dropped them on the floor nearby the rack in Kiri's case, and then ran off screaming up the stairs to play together, she picked up her groceries and carried them into the kitchen to put them away.

" _We will need your answer now._ " At first, she refused to turn, refused to acknowledge the voice.

"No..."

" _The vow was made. He is with us now. Will you join him?_ "

She turned to face the spirit. Shirou's hair had been white for some time, and his eyes had almost entirely lost their amber to silver; a consequence of so much projection. "But he was coming home soon."

" _Shirou Emiya was executed two minutes ago._ " Rin Tohsaka-Emiya collapsed to her knees, sitting back on her feet and wept. Despair flowed through her, but the creature in front of her offered no comfort, waiting on her answer.

After a time, she found the will to control herself and answer. "Please... we have small children. I can't leave them now."

It reached forward, touching her shoulder, as if to comfort the new widow, but offering none. " _You will not be taken yet; this is not your time. If you choose to join him, we will take you then, but you will be as you are now._ "

Rin didn't hesitate. "Alright. Then I accept."

The spirit turned, as if to leave, but hesitated. " _If you seek retribution, you will join us. Will you wait until your children are of age? We do have a soft spot for them._ " It turned back to her, her own face now mirrored on it. " _We already knew your answer, but we still had to ask. You are close to us, Heroic Spirit Tohsaka._ " And then it faded from existence, like Archer had, blue motes of light in the breeze.

And Rin wept, again, for lost husband, and for the face she last saw on Alaya's avatar. Archer may have been sent to prepare Shirou for his fate, but the face she saw was Kirei's, and she understood that she'd never really had a choice, either.

* * *

 **Note:** I recently binge-watched Netflix's Fate/Stay night and Fate/Zero and this idea has been stuck in my head, keeping me away from working on my other projects. I'm intrigued with the idea of Shirou confronting his future self, and believing that he will be on a different path, but I got thinking about why Alaya would allow her counter-guardian into the holy grail war, and watching the Shirou/EMIYA fight made me think that the way Shirou learns from EMIYA, deflecting blows and getting better with each strike, that Alaya sent EMIYA to train Shirou so that he could become EMIYA. So of course, going back and watching it again, I began to see the places where Rin is piecing Archer's identity together, and thought "If she figures it out, won't she interfere? She basically promises EMIYA not to let Shirou become him." and so this plot; Alaya offers Rin a bribe; eternity with the man she loves, her husband and the father of her children (Yeah yeah, single child/mage crest nevermind).

I hope you enjoyed this; I've no intention of extending this or elaborating, and if you didn't, well you won't have to read it again, so take solace in that.


End file.
